Gaming Method, System and Apparatus Incorporating Personalized Guaranteed Prize Structure

ABSTRACT

The present invention facilitates new gaming opportunities by providing a personalized guaranteed value prize structure tied to a gaming player identifier. The identifier is associated with one or more virtual books of tickets, wherein the book(s) of tickets include a guaranteed prize structure that can provide a pre-determined value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets therein. In one embodiment of the present invention, the prize structure implements a losing run limit such that no more than a pre-determined number of losing tickets in a row are experienced by the player. Once a virtual book of tickets is assigned, the player can reveal the results using various different terminals, including, for example, retailer terminals, home computers and mobile communications devices. The tickets and their values can be populated in each book in advance or dynamically as the user plays each ticket.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/122,179, filed Dec. 12, 2008, entitled “System, Device and Method for Paperless Wagering and Payment of Winnings,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Instant lottery tickets issued by lottery service providers and/or lottery ticket manufacturers permit various levels of winning according to a pre-defined prize structure. The prize structure usually includes high-tier winning tickets (e.g., redemption value of $600 and up), mid-tier winning tickets (e.g., redemption value of between $26 and $599 inclusive), low-tier winning tickets (e.g., redemption value of $25 and below) and losing tickets with no redemption (i.e., zero) value. Depending upon the structure, fewer or additional tiers may also exist. The winning tickets are randomly dispersed throughout a pool of tickets, with each pool of tickets being sub-dividable into books (also called “packs”) that are distributed to lottery ticket retailers. As an example, one pool of lottery tickets may include 240,000 tickets comprising 2,400 books having 100 tickets each.

Traditional instant lottery tickets are typically packaged and distributed using the concept of GLEPS (Guaranteed Low End Prize Structure). This typically means that the ticket printer guarantees that each book of tickets contains a certain value of low-tier winning tickets regardless of the total number of tickets, and may also guarantee that there are never more than “n” number of consecutive losing tickets in the book (sometimes referred to as the “Losing Run Limit”, where “n” is a number such as twelve or fifteen, for example). Optionally, some GLEPS schemes may guarantee that a book of tickets contain no more than a certain value of low tier winners. Non-GLEPS prizes (e.g., high-tier, mid-tier, and non-GLEPS low-tier winning tickets) are inserted or “sprinkled” in a random fashion among all books. The remaining tickets in a book are non-winners. FIG. 1 is a simplified example of a prize structure table 12 showing a book 14 of ten lottery tickets 16 and their associated prizes 18. The table includes respective columns that indicate the existence of low-tier winning tickets 20, mid-tier winning tickets 22 and high-tier winning tickets 24. As shown therein, ticket numbers 003 and 009 qualify as low-tier prize winning tickets because their redemption values are under $25. Ticket number 006 qualifies as a mid-tier prize winning ticket because its redemption value is $300.

If a particular lottery game has a GLEPS requirement of $15 per book, then the prize structure in FIG. 1 would be in compliance. For that matter, a book with one $10 winner and one $5 winner would be in compliance, as would a book with three $5 winners. Further, if the same game has a losing run limit of three tickets, then the prize structure in FIG. 1 would still be in compliance because there are no more than two losing tickets in a row within the ten tickets shown in FIG. 1.

Although the GLEPS concept is not widely publicized by lotteries, the effect is that, if a player purchases an entire book of tickets, he or she will win at least a certain amount. Savvy retailers and players are aware that if several losing tickets in a row are sold, the chance of one of the next few tickets being a winner increases based on the GLEPS concept.

For individual lottery ticket players, there is never any guarantee that any given player will receive a winning ticket or multiple winning tickets for every group of tickets of a certain size purchased, unless an entire book of tickets is purchased. Thus, even in the above example with a GLEPS requiring $15 of low-end winning tickets per book, an individual player cannot rely on getting $15 in winning tickets for every one hundred tickets purchased non-consecutively. Nor can the individual player rely on limiting any losing runs. It is perfectly understood and within the odds associated with games of chance such as instant lottery tickets that a player can conceivably purchase and play hundreds of tickets without getting any winning tickets, including low-end prize winning tickets.

Traditional instant tickets have nothing similar to personalized GLEPS. If a player knows that each time the player purchases a losing ticket, he or she has increased the probability of the next ticket being a winner (via the losing run limit), then he or she may be more apt to play again, which could result in a greater number of online plays and ticket sales.

Online instant tickets are the non-preprinted equivalent of traditional instant tickets. Online instant tickets are played with virtual ticket representations over a private or public network. With online instant tickets, GLEPS is not known or available. Instead, when an online instant ticket is purchased, all players are buying from the same large pool of tickets. Thus, the player cannot be guaranteed to receive low end prizes pursuant to any required prize structure and there are no losing run limits with online instant tickets.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention provides a guaranteed prize structure to online instant tickets, with a wide variety of implementations. The present invention can incorporate the guaranteed prize structure on a per distributor level, a per retailer level, a per store level, a per terminal level, a personal level, or any other level (e.g., office groups, etc.). In doing so, the present invention can enhance the gaming experience for participants while also allowing the lottery operator or retailer to gather meaningful information about their market and customers. The guaranteed prize structure can incorporate a guaranteed value prize structure, a losing run limit or both.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrative table showing a prize structure for a book of lottery tickets.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system of the present invention incorporating a lottery system backend and a commercial transaction system backend.

FIG. 3 is a sample system architecture that can be employed with a personalized guaranteed low-end prize structure as implemented in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sample flow diagram illustrating a method of providing a personalized guaranteed low-end prize structure in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTIVE ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

As used in the present application, the term “gaming player identifier” can include or be associated with, by way of example and without limitation, a debit card, a credit card, a smart card, a gift card, a pre-paid card, a stored value card, a bank card, a player card, a “frequent-player” card, a user name and password combination, an account identifier, indicia such as a bar code or a magnetic stripe, a human biological identifier, a voucher, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or transmitter, an ATM card, a combination card, any other coded indicia, Bluetooth™-enhanced devices, mobile communications devices adapted for use with the above, or combinations of any of the above. The gaming player identifier is or can represent a personal identifier specific to an individual person, a group, a retailer, a chain of stores, or a specific device, as exemplified above. The gaming player identifier can further be associated with a unique identifier such as a credit or debit card number, serial number, account number, IP address, or e-mail address, for example.

If a card is employed as the gaming player identifier, its form factor can preferably be similar to that of a standard credit, debit or stored value card, and can operate similarly thereto. The card can implement contact technology such as magnetic stripes, and/or contact-less technology such as scannable barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags or Bluetooth™, for example. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mobile communications device can be employed as the gaming player identifier, based, for example, on the IP address of the device or a barcode or other identifier displayed on, and capable of being read from, the visual display of the device. In a further aspect of the present invention, the gaming player identifier can be the player himself or herself, or a part of the player, wherein the player's personal biological information (e.g., fingerprint, retina scan, voice or other human biologically unique information) can be recorded and stored with his or her account as part of his or her player information, and then compared with the biometric information measured when the user desires to initiate a ticket play or transaction using the system of the present invention.

In one aspect of the present invention, the gaming player identifier can be used to determine an amount held in an account associated with the identifier, as well as to debit or credit amounts in the account, transfer funds from another account, and/or transfer gaming winnings into the account. The account associated with the gaming player identifier can be, for example, a debit or credit card account, a bank account, a savings account, a lottery account, a checking account, and/or another financial account The account can be a financial institution account (e.g., Bank of America™ checking, savings or brokerage account) or a financial account maintained independently of a financial institution.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the gaming player identifier takes the form of a multi-purpose transaction card as referenced above. An example such card is shown at 25 in FIG. 2, with a machine readable barcode 26 on one side of the card and a machine readable magnetic stripe 27 on the other side. It will be appreciated that these and other indicia may appear on the same side of the card in an alternative embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, the multi-purpose transaction card includes indicia in the form of a visible computer chip on one face of the card, which is employed when the multi-purpose transaction card operates as a “smart card” capable of being read and written to by a reader or terminal in accordance with the present invention. The smart card implementation can employ either a local card memory or a complete local central processing unit (CPU) for added data storage and processing capability.

As farther shown in FIG. 2, a typical implementation of the present invention involves a user identifying him or herself with a gaming player identifier, such as card 25, to a terminal 32. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, terminal 32 is one of multiple terminals within a retail establishment 30; however, it will be appreciated that a home computer or mobile communications device can be employed as the terminal. Each terminal can be provided with one or more methods of identifying individual players, such as, but not limited to, a browser interface, a biometric identifier such as a fingerprint scanner, a magnetic stripe reader, or a barcode reader. The magnetic stripe reader and barcode reader implementations may further be provided with the ability to write information to a card in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, such as where the player card is a stored value card and the player elects to have any winnings added to the card for further use. Readers that can be employed in connection with the present invention can be part of an attended POS terminal in a retail store or other commercial location, a self-contained kiosk in a retail store or other commercial location, or the mobile equivalent of the self-contained kiosk (e.g., a home personal computer or user mobile communication device). The reader can be interfaced with the terminal by any of a variety of known computer interfaces, including USB port, PCMCIA slot, parallel port, floppy disk slot, infrared IRDA port, RS232 serial port or keyboard, for example.

With regard to biometrics, a fingerprint scanner (or other biometric information reader) can be attached as a peripheral to a terminal for the purpose of capturing a player's fingerprint (or other biometric information) at a retailer location. Also as an option, an alpha/numeric keypad can be incorporated as either an additional peripheral or as part of the fingerprint scanner. It will be appreciated that a fingerprint scanner need not be the sole operative biometric device used in accordance with this aspect of the present invention. Other biometric equipment and techniques employed by the present invention can include, for example, iris recognition, retinal recognition, hand prints, voice recognition, facial recognition, signature stroke recognition or any combination thereof. The stored biometric imprint can allow for quickly matching the player to the stored virtual book of tickets, as well as allowing for automated entry of wager data and subsequent validation of the winning data.

As further shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 32 is in communication with a lottery system provider network 40 via network 36, which can be a public network such as the Internet or a private network, for example. The lottery system provider network 40 connects to a lottery data processing system 42, which can incorporate lottery host 44, and can further coordinate and/or run various lottery service provider functions such as player and account management component 46, gaming/transaction processing component 48, database 50, customer relationship management (CRM) component 52 and loyalty rewards component 54. Lottery host 44 can include, for example, programming for validating winning tickets, generating ticket data, randomizing winners, benefits and prizes, managing games and communications. In one embodiment of the present invention, the lottery data processing system 42 manages deposits, withdrawals and gaming wagers and payouts via player/account management component 46. In another embodiment of the present invention, the lottery data processing system 42 can communicate with a financial system network 65 to manage electronic funds transfers for similar purposes. For instance, the lottery data processing system 42 can communicate the winnings from a gaming event to the financial system network in order to add finds to a financial institution account associated with a player, retailer or other entity, as described in more detail hereinafter.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the financial system network 65 is an association network (such as MasterCard™/VISA™ network), which manages non-lottery/gaming transactions in the customary way through communications between a card issuing bank 70, a transaction acquiring bank 72 and an association 74 (e.g., MasterCard™/VISA™). The card issuing bank can include a bank or financial institution data processing system 76 for managing account transactions. The financial institution data processing system includes programming for, among other things, initiating the opening of a financial institution account. In one embodiment of the present invention, an account can be opened and funded with a balance in the amount of winnings from a gaming event or transaction.

It will be appreciated that, while it is actually a human player or user who plays the games and/or tickets provided by the system of the present invention, the player or user is playing tickets that are associated with a book of tickets represented in the system by one or more gaming player identifiers. The gaming player identifiers can be informational or biometric, as described elsewhere herein. Using a gaming player identifier provides a means by which the present invention can preserve anonymity for players, while also allowing many different entity types (e.g., retailer, individual, syndicate group, etc.) with different identifier types (e.g., card, mobile communication device, user name and password, etc.) to participate. Thus, while the present invention is described in connection with FIG. 2 as employing a terminal within a retail environment, it will be appreciated that a player may play online tickets in accordance with the present invention by accessing lottery system provider network 40 from a home personal computer or via the player's mobile communication device, for example.

As shown in FIG. 3, the system of the present invention gives players a winning experience comparable to traditional instant tickets by first establishing a virtual book or virtual books of tickets 101. These books can be selected and associated with a particular entity through the gaming player identifier, such as by storing an electronic record of the book in a file that identifies the gaming player identifier. The gaming processor associated with the lottery host can generate the virtual book (e.g., as part of a pool of online lottery tickets) and the host can associate or assign the virtual book to the gaming player identifier. The gaming player identifier can also be used to access the user's lottery account, where established. In establishing the virtual book of tickets, the gaming processor incorporates a prize structure that can include guaranteed low-end prize winning tickets and/or a losing run limit. In alternative embodiments, the prize structure can include a guarantee on the maximum value of low-tier prize winning tickets, or a guarantee on the minimum value of high-tier prize winning tickets, for example. The guarantee provided within the prize structure can vary depending upon the particular desires of the game operator.

For individuals, any time the user buys a ticket, the user can be identified in the system through the gaming player identifier and the lottery host can determine what prize, if any, is to be awarded to the user based on the associated book. Virtual books of tickets are, as the name implies, not hard copy tickets that are printed and held in hand. Rather, they are established and maintained electronically, and are either pre-selected or dynamically generated. In the dynamically generated embodiment, the virtual book of tickets with guaranteed prize structure distribution is first created with a capacity for a certain number of tickets (e.g., one hundred), whereupon a guaranteed prize structure distribution algorithm populates the values of the tickets in the logical book as the player plays each ticket. Thus, the values and/or tickets are dynamically added to the logical book on the fly. In this way, the risk of someone compromising an originally and completely created book of tickets to determine which tickets have pre-established winning values is reduced.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the lottery host associates the book with at least one reader terminal in communication with the lottery data processing system. The terminal(s) can be affiliated with a particular retailer, for example, such that the retailer gets the benefit of players knowing that the retailer will, at worst, only have so many losing tickets in a row before a winning ticket emerges. In such an embodiment, it is conceivable and within the scope of the present invention that the virtual book of tickets and gaming player identifier are stored on a retailer computer network separate and apart from the lottery system provider network. In such an instance, the players of online instant lottery tickets provided by the retailer would not necessarily access the lottery system provider network in order to play the tickets, but can instead access a retailer network, such as a website hosted by the retailer to permit play of the online instant lottery tickets within the virtual book that had been assigned to the retailer. The retailer network can thereby include its own gaming processor that communicates and is associated with the lottery host.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the entity associated with a virtual book of tickets can be an individual 103, a group of individuals (e.g., wagering syndicate) 104, a company, retailer or other organization 106, or a personalized/auxiliary jackpot 108. Further, the entity with the assigned virtual book of tickets can play out the entire book of tickets over different terminals. Thus, as a simple example, if a book of one hundred tickets were assigned to Player One, the book of tickets could be played out such that the first ten tickets are played by Player One at a home computer, the next thirty are played out at a retailer location, and the last sixty are played out by Player One's mobile communications device. Thus, the system of the present invention is truly portable while maintaining all of the benefits of a personalized book of tickets. In one embodiment of the present invention, the personalized book of tickets includes only a guaranteed value (e.g., low-end) prize structure and does not guarantee a losing run limit. In another embodiment of the present invention, the personalized book of tickets guarantees a losing run limit but does not provide a guaranteed value prize structure. As described above, a guaranteed prize structure can be embodied in a losing run limit, a guaranteed value prize structure or both.

It is further within the scope of the present invention to distribute multiple different games from the same logical book. So, for example, a logical book of tickets, with guaranteed prize structure distribution, can be created with a capacity for a certain number of tickets (e.g., one hundred), where the tickets are dynamically added to the book from different games, as the player plays those games. In this way, a player can avoid the situation where he or she decides to play one or more tickets from several different games and receive non-winners each time. Thus, the virtual gaming ticket book can encompass multiple games such that the guaranteed prize structure remains intact when tickets from multiple games are played. Further, unlike with pre-printed books of tickets, the present invention can incorporate a guaranteed prize structure across successive books. For example, the present invention can guarantee a losing run limit even when some of the tickets are at the end of one virtual book assigned to a gaming player identifier and the others are at the beginning of the next virtual book assigned to the same gaming player identifier.

In one embodiment, the lottery system of the present invention can associate an established virtual book of tickets with a gaming player identifier upon the selection of a gaming player identifier by the user. With the use of a card as described above, the lottery system can associate an established virtual book of tickets with an individual card at the time the card is issued. When the lottery system identifies a particular player (e.g., via multi-purpose transaction card, simple player card, user name and password, etc.) and that player purchases a ticket for a particular game, the player is actually getting a ticket from a guaranteed prize structure book which is allocated to him or her alone. This does not really give the player a better chance of winning, but can guarantee that the player will never buy more than “n” tickets without a winner, and/or that he or she can expect to win at least $x for every “y” number of tickets he or she buys. This feature can be explicitly stated in the game literature, or not publicized at all.

In the embodiment of the present invention where cards are not employed, a player or other entity can request to play online instant tickets with a personalized guaranteed prize structure. Such a request can occur by a telephone or online registration process, where the player can, for example, provide some level of identification detail such as contact information, and establish an account for wagering. The player can receive and/or select a gaming player identifier at the time of registration. For example, the player may select a user name and password that can be used at any computing device that can access the virtual ticket book (e.g., through a browser). Upon receiving the request, the system of the present invention then generates a virtual book of tickets containing a guaranteed prize structure, and associates the generated book with the gaming player identifier. Alternatively, the system of the present invention can access a previously generated virtual book of tickets as described and associate the book with the gaming player identifier. The book and gaming player identifier are stored together in a database, such as, database 50 associated with lottery data processing system 42.

It will be appreciated that a player or other entity wishing to establish a personalized virtual book of online instant tickets in accordance with the present invention may wish to establish multiple gaming player identifiers in order to accommodate several access device types available in the field. For example, if the player establishes a player card to be used as a first gaming player identifier at retail establishments, the player may also establish a user name and password as a second gaming player identifier for use with a home personal computer or mobile computing device that may not be equipped to read the card. Both gaming player identifiers can be recorded and stored in connection with the same virtual book of tickets in accordance with the present invention.

Associating virtual books of tickets with retailers (e.g., 106) or groups of retailers (e.g., 104) provides them with the same advantages that they have today with traditional tickets. For example, a player can avoid receiving too many consecutive losers in the store, which could cause him to label the store as “unlucky.” Stores that elect to offer online or electronic tickets can incorporate personalized guaranteed prize structures into their gaming offerings.

The flow diagram of FIG. 4 illustrates one method of giving players a winning experience comparable to traditional instant tickets in accordance with the present invention. A virtual pool of tickets is generated by the lottery host, as at step 110. The pool is divided into multiple virtual books for use with individual players, as at step 112. At step 114, parameters are set so that when tickets are sold, prizes are distributed among the multiple books according to a guaranteed prize structure that can include a guaranteed value prize structure, and/or a maximum number of consecutive losing tickets. At step 116, the virtual books or parameters are assigned to individual gaming player identifiers and stored. At step 118, the system of the present invention receives an indication from a gaming player identifier to initiate the play of an online instant ticket. In this step, the system of the present invention can present the user with gaming options, such as particular online instant tickets available for play. At step 120, the system of the present invention retrieves data or parameters stored in connection with the gaming player identifier and employs programming to appropriately populate the online instant ticket so that the user of the gaming player identifier receives the result corresponding with the book of tickets assigned to the gaming player identifier. At step 122, the result is displayed on a visual interface of the interface employed by the user. As described above, the interface can be a home computer, retailer terminal, mobile communications device or other interface capable of informing the user of the result of the ticket play.

From the player's perspective, payment for playing the online instant ticket game can be made upon providing the gaming player identifier to the system of the present invention. Payment can take place in many ways. For example, the user can charge the ticket price to a pre-established account associated with the gaming player identifier. Alternatively, the user can pay cash or use a debit, credit or stored value card at a retailer. Further, the user can employ a multi-purpose transaction card as described above to pay for the ticket price. Winnings from winning tickets can be credited to a user account in much the same way. In the embodiment of the present invention where the user employs a stored value card, the user can have ticket winnings applied directly to the card as described above.

In the embodiment of the present invention where a book of tickets is assigned to a retailer and not to an individual player, the retailer can employ multiple terminals that benefit from the guaranteed prize structure as described herein. Thus, the winning tickets in the guaranteed prize structure would be spread out over multiple terminals and the losing run limit would apply to the aggregate of tickets played at the multiple terminals. For example, if a local tavern includes four player terminals at four different locations in the bar area, and the tavern has been assigned a virtual book of tickets according to the present invention, the ordering and value of the winners in the book will be distributed among terminals according to the timing of player activity at each terminal. For example, if a virtual book includes one hundred tickets with a losing run limit of ten tickets, then it is possible that a player at a first terminal in the tavern could play nine consecutive tickets and lose each time, while another player could then begin play at a second terminal in the tavern, and immediately play a winning ticket based on the losing run limit associated with the ticket book assigned to the tavern.

In terms of ticket management, the system of the present invention can operate so as to incorporate virtual books of tickets associated with individual gaming player identifiers (“individually affiliated guaranteed prize structure books”) as well as books of tickets not associated with individual gaming player identifiers (“unaffiliated guaranteed prize structure books”). In such an embodiment, the unassociated guaranteed prize structure books can comprise online instant tickets as well as traditional printed instant tickets. Thus, it is possible that a particular pool of lottery tickets is produced for a particular lottery game in accordance with the present invention such that some of the books comprise printed tickets while the remaining books comprise online tickets, with the online ticket books comprising individually associated guaranteed prize structure books and unassociated guaranteed prize structure books. In another embodiment of the present invention, the pool of tickets is comprised entirely of books of online instant tickets, some of which are individually associated guaranteed prize structure books and the remaining of which are unassociated guaranteed prize structure books.

The present invention can accommodate specific card-type protocols according to the card-type employed. Thus, for example, the present invention employs barcode and magnetic stripe communication protocols to enable the implementation of a system that can handle multi-purpose transaction cards with barcode and magnetic stripe indicia thereon. Smart card and contactless smart card (e.g., RFID) communication protocols are also provided by the present invention for deployments that involve multi-purpose transaction cards with smart card and/or contactless capabilities. In addition, appropriate memory and processing power are provided depending upon the card and processing system requirements for any given deployment. Further, appropriate security hardware and software measures are employed as will be appreciated in accordance with typical measures provided for electronic commerce transactions.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that any computer system that includes suitable programming means for operating in accordance with the disclosed methods also falls well within the scope of the present invention. Suitable programming means include any means for directing a computer system to execute the steps of the system and method of the invention, including for example, systems comprised of processing units and arithmetic-logic circuits coupled to computer memory, which systems have the capability of storing in computer memory, which computer memory includes electronic circuits configured to store data and program instructions, programmed steps of the method of the invention for execution by a processing unit. The steps of the system and method of the invention include, by way of example and not limitation, communications, security, credit or debit card processing via financial network, benefit operation including rewards and prizes, randomization, virtual ticket book and pool generation, lottery drawing operation, account management, transaction management, reporting, settlement, point-of-sale, player management, game management and hardware management. The present invention software is further adapted appropriately to interface with third party software that may accompany any third party hardware used in accordance with the present invention, such as, for example, reader software associated with a hardware reader element. Aspects of the present invention may be embodied in a computer program product, such as a diskette or other recording medium, for use with any suitable data processing system. The present invention can further run on a variety of platforms, including Microsoft Windows™, Linux™, Sun Solaris™, HP/UX™, IBM AIX™ and Java compliant platforms, for example.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims of the application rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. 

1. A system, comprising: a gaming player identifier; and a lottery data processing system having a lottery host with a gaming processor associated therewith, with the gaming processor adapted to associate a virtual gaming ticket book with the gaming player identifier, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure that provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure that provides a pre-determined maximum value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the low-tier tickets within the ticket book.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the high-tier tickets within the ticket book.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the gaming player identifier can be read by a reader apparatus in order to initiate a lottery transaction in connection with a lottery system account associated with a player entity.
 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the gaming player identifier is a multi-purpose transaction card having indicia thereupon for initiating lottery and non-lottery transactions.
 8. The system of claim 7 wherein the transaction card indicia includes first indicia for initiating a lottery transaction and second indicia for initiating a non-lottery transaction.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein the first and second indicia are the same.
 10. The system of claim 1 wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a plurality of tickets that can be played on a plurality of terminals such that every ticket within the plurality of tickets is not played on the same terminal.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the guaranteed prize structure includes a losing run limit.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein the virtual gaming ticket book is built dynamically as tickets are played.
 13. The system of claim 1 wherein the virtual gaming ticket book encompasses multiple games such that the guaranteed prize structure remains intact when tickets from multiple games are played.
 14. A system, comprising: an apparatus for detecting a gaming player identifier; and a lottery data processing system in communication with the apparatus, with the lottery data processing system having a lottery host with a gaming processor associated therewith, with the gaming processor adapted to associate a virtual gaming ticket book with the gaming player identifier, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure comprising one or both of a guaranteed value prize structure or a losing run limit.
 15. A method for guaranteeing a prize structure to an individual gaming player, comprising: issuing a gaming player identifier to an individual gaming player, wherein the identifier identifies a lottery system account associated with the gaming player; associating, by a gaming processor associated with a lottery host, a virtual gaming ticket book with the gaming player identifier, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure that provides a pre-determined value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined maximum value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book.
 18. The method of claim 15 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the low-tier tickets within the ticket book.
 19. The method of claim 15 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the high-tier tickets within the ticket book.
 20. The method of claim 15 wherein the gaming player identifier identifies a lottery system account, and wherein the identifier can be read in order to initiate a lottery transaction in connection with the lottery system account.
 21. The method of claim 15 wherein the guaranteed prize structure includes a losing run limit.
 22. A card-reading terminal, comprising: a reader element capable of reading a barcode from a transaction card; a reader element capable of reading a magnetic stripe from the transaction card; and a communications component for communicating with a lottery host, with the lottery host having a gaming processor adapted to associate a virtual gaming ticket book with the transaction card, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure comprising one or both of a guaranteed value prize structure or a losing run limit.
 23. A method for establishing a guaranteed prize structure in online instant lottery tickets, comprising the steps of: providing a pool of online instant lottery tickets; and dividing the pool into multiple books of virtual gaming tickets, with each book having a guaranteed prize structure.
 24. The method of claim 22 wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure for each book that provides a pre-determined value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets therein.
 25. The method of claim 23 wherein the guaranteed prize structure includes a losing run limit.
 26. The method of claim 24 wherein each book of tickets is associated with an individual gaming player identifier.
 27. The method of claim 25 wherein the gaming player identifier identifies a lottery system account, and wherein the identifier can be read in order to initiate a lottery transaction in connection with the lottery system account.
 28. The method of claim 23 wherein each ticket book includes a plurality of tickets that can be played on a plurality of terminals such that every ticket within the plurality of tickets is not played on the same terminal. 